The United States attorney for the District of Columbia (USADC) is responsible for representing the federal government in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia has two divisions, the Civil Division and the Criminal Division. The Civil Division is responsible for representing federal agencies in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and in appeals before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The Criminal Division prosecutes federal crimes in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, including cases involving national security, public corruption, violent crime, and narcotics trafficking.

Unlike the states, the District of Columbia is under the exclusive jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress. By statute, the U.S. attorney is responsible for prosecuting both federal crimes and all serious crimes committed by adults in the District of Columbia. Therefore, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia serves as both the federal prosecutor (as in the other 92 U.S. attorneys' offices) and as the local district attorney. The attorney general of the District of Columbia, who is elected by the people of the district, handles local civil litigation and minor infractions, comparable with a city attorney.

Because its jurisdiction covers the precincts of the United States Congress and the headquarters of several U.S. government agencies, the USADC is considered one of the most influential U.S. attorneys in the United States, along with the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. Appointment to the role is considered a significant career achievement for prosecutors.

List of U.S. attorneys for the District of Columbia John T. Mason: 1801 Walter Jones Jr.: 1801–1821 Thomas Swann: 1821–1833 Francis Scott Key: 1833–1841 Philip Richard Fendall II: 1841–1845 James Hoban Jr.: 1845–1846 Philip Barton Key II: 1846–1849 Philip Richard Fendall II: 1849–1853 Philip Barton Key II: 1853–1859 Robert Ould: 1859–1861 Edward S. Carrington: 1861–1876 George P. Fisher: 1870–1875 Henry H. Wells: 1875–1880 George B. Corkhill: 1880–1884 Augustus S. Worthington: 1884–1888 John B. Hoge: 1888–1891 Charles Cleaves Cole: 1891–1893 Arthur A. Birney: 1893–1897 Henry E. Davis: 1897–1899 Thomas H. Anderson: 1899–1901 Ashley M. Gould: 1901–1903 Morgan H. Beach: 1903–1905 Daniel W. Baker: 1905–1910 Clarence R. Wilson: 1910–1914 John E. Laskey: 1914–1921 Peyton Gordon: 1921–1928 Leo A. Rover: 1928–1934 Leslie C. Garnett: 1934–1937 David Andrew Pine: 1938–1940 Edward Matthew Curran: 1940–1946 George M. Fay: 1946 George E. McNeil: 1946–1947 George M. Fay: 1947–1951 Charles M. Irelan:: 1951–1953 Leo A. Rover: 1953–1956 Oliver Gasch: 1956–1961 David Campion Acheson: 1961–1965 John C. Conliff Jr.: 1965 David G. Bress: 1965–1969 Thomas Aquinas Flannery: 1969–1971 Harold H. Titus Jr.: 1971–1974 Earl J. Silbert: 1974–1979 Carl Raul: 1979 Charles Ruff: 1979–1981 Stanley S. Harris: 1982–1983 Joseph diGenova: 1983–1988 Timothy J. Reardon III (interim): 1988 Jay B. Stephens: 1988–1993 J. Ramsey Johnson (interim): 1993 Eric Holder: 1993 – June 13, 1997 Mary Lou Leary (interim): July 1997 – January 1998 Wilma A. Lewis: January 1998 – April 2001 Roscoe C. Howard: August 2001 – May 2004 Kenneth L. Wainstein: May 2004 – September 28, 2006 Jeffrey A. Taylor (interim): September 28, 2006 – May 28, 2009 Channing D. Phillips (interim): May 28, 2009 – February 2010 Ronald Machen: February 2010 – March 31, 2015 Vincent Cohen Jr. (interim): April 1, 2015 – October 19, 2015 Channing D. Phillips: October 19, 2015 – September 24, 2017 Jessie Liu: September 24, 2017 – January 31, 2020 Timothy Shea (interim) January 31, 2020 – May 19, 2020 Michael R. Sherwin (interim) May 19, 2020 – March 3, 2021 Channing D. Phillips (interim) March 3, 2021 – November 5, 2021 Matthew M. Graves: November 5, 2021 – January 16, 2025 Bridget M. Fitzpatrick (interim): January 16, 2025 – January 20, 2025 Ed Martin (interim): January 20, 2025 – May 14, 2025 Jeanine Pirro: May 14, 2025 – present

References

Sources Bicentennial Celebration of the U.S. Attorneys, Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys. United States Department of Justice, 1989. United States Attorney for the District of Columbia